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Austin: Neighborhood Spotlight on RMMA

NabeWise sat down with Philip X. Rutkowski, a

So Phil, what prompted the move to the Mission?
My job, really. That was the initial reason – I’m currently a post-doc researcher who studied for a PhD at UCLA before getting a post here. Also, since my wife’s a product designer, the move was great for her since San Francisco definitely attracts a lot of design firms.

And you were moving from L.A.?
I lived in West LA for two and a half years. It was way too perfect, as in clean, safe, and quiet; so, I moved to Hollywood for two and a half years.

Was it expensive to move from LA to SF?  Moving van, gas, etc?
It cost about $1000. We did a one-way weekend rental for a 26′ U-Haul truck that came out to be $600. We also hired movers from U-Haul to help load and unload the truck. All we had to do was drive!

Nice! Then what was the most stressful part of moving?
Everything! We had one weekend over Thanksgiving to look for an apartment and to sign a lease. Luckily, we found a great place in the Mission after only one day of searching. I think the absolute most stressful part was driving the 26′ truck. Everything I owned was right behind me and there were hundreds of small cars speeding past me. Very stressful! Looking for a good apartment and signing a lease in two days is very stressful too. But it’s possible! Even in SF!

And the easiest part of moving?
The easiest part was not having to load and unload the truck. I don’t think I’ll ever move again without hiring movers.

Any advice for anyone who has to move to SF that you would share?
If you are looking for an apartment in SF, Craigslist is the way to go. What SF needs is for Westside Rentals to extend their territory to northern California, I loved that resource when I was in Los Angeles. You have to pay to get a subscription so you know all of the entries have been researched and are legitimate, it was great.

So why the Mission over any other nabe?
It is a central location to public transportation, restaurants, hangouts and because there are quite a few young people in the area. My wife and I rent a two-bedroom apartment in a Victorian townhouse and I absolutely love living here. Rent’s about $2000 per month in our immediate neighborhood and we definitely want to continue renting here for the next two or three years before thinking of buying a place of our own. That is, given our careers don’t move us.

I hear the Mission also has great weather.
San Francisco weather is very strange. The Richmond and Sunset Districts are ALWAYS cloudy! But the Mission District, a few miles away is usually sunny. Each district has it’s own microclimate. If you are not restricted to a specific neighborhood, do some research into the weather of the district you are considering moving to, because a one year lease could be miserable for you if its cloudy and chilly all the time.

I know you are a vegan, would you say the Mission District is vegan friendly?
Yes! This is true for all of San Francisco though. Not many restaurants are dedicated to being completely vegan but almost every restaurant has vegan options. We are shocked anytime we go to a restaurant that doesn’t have anything for us to eat. There are so many restaurants in the Mission District. My wife and I are foodies and we especially like ethnic cuisines. I never imagined I would eat food from Senegal or Venezuela. The Mission is GREAT for foodies, vegans, and vegan foodies!

So a typical day in the Mission District for you is….
Biking to get a falafel. Hanging out at Dolores Park. Eating at a new restaurant!

I heard Emmy’s is a restaurant fave for many of the locals there.
We’ve actually never tried their food although we have heard things about their spaghetti. We’re both huge fans of ethnic food – just this week, we’ve had falafel at Truly Mediterranean and Indian at Dosa. It’s so easy in the Mission District because everything seems to be within walking distance so my wife and I basically take a stroll from one place to the next.

How would you describe the Mission District to a rancher in Texas?
Hmmmmm… Well, there are no cows in the Mission. But…. There are plenty of bicyclists, coffee shops, pedestrians, eats other than American, hipsters and hippies, more hipsters and hippies, very small apartments, and iPhones.

OUR SUMMARY -WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM RUTKOWSKI:

1.) Apartment hunting on a holiday weekend can actually be successful
2.) You can hire movers to pack and unpack your U-Haul
3.) The Mission has a sunny climate, one of many micro-climates within San Francisco
4.) San Francisco has vegan options everywhere
5.) Craigslist is the best apartment-finding option in town

Why did you choose the Mission District as your personal home base?
Well, my friend lived in this house here and it became well known as a good party house for having bands play in the backyard and for hosting other shows. Everyone wanted to play here, come to the shows here, it was also great place for people to come crash on the couch if they were from out of town.  It’s just a fun place to be, in general.  My friend had to move to Berkeley for work and he wanted the house to go to someone he knew would continue the legacy.

I said yes because of that, and also because the rent is super cheap. I’ve been here 3 years, and for 2 years before that I was in Bernal Heights.

The rent is super cheap? Is that the Mission’s reputation?
Well, my friend had been here so long that he got a great deal and I was able to continue that. My rent is $1100 for a 2-bedroom, which is one of two units in the house.  Around here rent is usually $1600 or $1700 for a similar place.

How has the Mission changed over the three years you’ve been there?
Well, there’s two sides of the Mission. On the western border there are hipsters, bars, and fancy restaurants and records stores. That dominates the west side.  On the east side, where I am, it’s mostly Latino, with burrito joints and taquerías.

This side is getting gentrified though with fancy ice cream shops, fancy restaurants, and coffee shops.  Before it was mostly a bunch of Mexican restaurants, which was good. All this yuppie stuff is coming in now.  Well, I’m white and I do like some of it, so I guess I’m part of the problem too, I suppose.

Anything else change?
The Jay ‘N Bee Club changed. It is a bar nearby here.  They have a good outdoor area here in The Mission.  We used to go there all the time when my friend used to DJ there. But now they have changed owners, changed the menu and everything there has changed, so we don’t go there anymore.  But back in the day that was the place to be.

Does the Mission remind you of anywhere else you’ve lived?
Kinda like Bernal Heights, but that’s just the next neighborhood south of the Mission.

For other places outside of San Francisco, there are some similarities to Athens, GA, where I lived before. It’s like a big city version of a very small hipster section of Athens, near the Grit, a vegetarian restaurant down there.

If they made Athens where people were much more stacked on-top of each other and then had 75% Latino people mixed in, which makes it much better, then it would be like the Mission.  But I like Athens how it is too.

Where do you go to work on your music within the neighborhood?
My bandmates live around the corner with a built-in studio in their basement, so we usually rehearse there.  I know some artists with warehouses and art spaces we can play in too.  It’s kinda hard to have practice here as it’s so residential, so we’re lucky to have my bandmate’s basement studio.

We play shows at a few places in town – The Knockout, which is a pretty cool and fun bar.  The Make-Out Room is pretty cool too.  El Rio has shows sometimes, and they also have a big outdoor area in the back when the weather is good.

Describe a perfect day in your nabe.
Wake up not hungover and see that it’s a brilliant beautiful day outside. It never gets really hot here, but it gets to be t-shirt weather sometimes. Each nabe has it’s own weather system here. The Mission is the warmest and the sunniest nabe in San Francisco.

How about perfect neighborhood activities?
I would take my dog to the dog park in Dolores Park.  But last time I was there one of my dogs ran really far away and he ran like 100 mph at this girl on a picnic blanket as she was putting a bagel in her mouth. My dog ran full-speed in-between her hand and her mouth and stole the bagel. So I don’t bring him there anymore.  Potrero Hill is where I go to now. It overlooks the city and has a pretty good view.

After that, my wife and I would usually go eat something.  I don’t really like brunch but a lot of people come to the Mission to eat brunch.  But I like to go to a Mexican place, Los Jarritos on 20th Street and Van Ness Ave and get chili quiles – chips and eggs mixed together with chicken.  I also get a horchata to drink.

After that, maybe come back to my house and open up the backyard and invite some friends over to drink some beers and hang out. We’d fire up the bbq to grill some sausages or burgers and tell some jokes and some lies to each other and have some fun.

At night, it would probably get nice and chilly, so we’d put on some jackets, and hit my favorite bar right now called the Lone Palm on 22nd Street and Guererro, The reason I like it is that is it’s not overwhelmingly crowded and not many people go to it yet for some reason.   And then on the way home, El Farolito.  They have two locations and I get a burrito or split one because they are really big.

Still Flyin' on the steps of Sean's party house

What would you change about the Mission?
It can be a pretty rough nabe.  There are some gangs and stuff where I live.  It can be dangerous, and you have to be careful at night and stick to the more busy streets or you’ll get mugged.  I’d stop the violence.  Maybe get Jimmy Carter to come make peace.

On the other side of the coin, the mission is most famous for the burritos as it was apparently invented here.  It didn’t really exist in Mexico before it was made here.  There are two hundred taquerías here and there could be something different.  Maybe something different than like 12 coffee shops within a few blocks from each other too.

So violence, taquerías, and coffee shops – those are the problems.

Which high school superlative winner should live here?
The first thing that comes to mind would be “Coolest.” Or “Most Likely to be Cool”.

How would you describe your nabe to, let’s say, a cowboy in North Dakota?
Lots of great Mexican food and lots of great any kind of food. The rent is cheaper than most of the rest of the city. A lot of diversity, culturally, than anywhere else in the city. And tons of parks and outdoors.

You’ll see a lot of things you’ve never seen before, both good or bad.  Mostly good though. And there are people who can’t really speak English here and they are still willing to try really hard to help each other out, and that’s really important too.

NabeWise unveils innovative Neighborhood Discovery and recommendatIon platform at Real Estate Connect, NYC

New York, NY – Wednesday, January 13, 2010 – NabeWise Media, Inc., an emerging leader in the local space, launched nabewise.com today in New York and San Francisco. NabeWise allows users to quickly and easily understand what any neighborhood is like. Now people can explore neighborhoods, discover new ones, and find the perfect place for them.

There are over 80,000 neighborhoods in the US alone, and they are all distinct in their people, setting, and culture. Many people want to know what different neighborhoods are like, including people moving, travelers, and curious locals.

In particular, people moving want to find a place that fits their identity, lifestyle, and values. “The average American moves every five years, and while choosing a neighborhood is as important as choosing a home, there has been no resource that helps people easily understand an area before they look at listings,” says Ann Baldinucci, CEO and Founder of NabeWise. Real Estate agents also need a resource to help them educate their clients about an area.

“After moving over 30 times, I know how difficult it can be to spend days driving around, talking to friends, and piecing together fragmented information, only to choose the wrong area and have to move again,” she adds.

NabeWise solves this issue in several ways, including an innovative NabeFinder search engine and real-time neighborhood rankings across 65 key attributes such as trendy, clean, artsy, and other things people actually talk about. For the first time, people can easily sort and find neighborhoods based on their personal combination of preferences.

Once people narrow their search, NabeWise brings each neighborhood to life with a combination of photo tours, reviews from locals, a comprehensive scorecard, and a unique NabeRep tool that captures the dynamic, local reputation of each place. Together, these features allow people to understand any neighborhood as if they have already lived there. NabeWise will be rolling out additional cities and features over the coming months.

Before founding NabeWise Media in 2009, Ann led Sourcing at Glocap Search, where she developed a system to reverse engineer organizational charts using social media. She also consulted with Flavorpill doing web analytics. Ann started her career in 2002 at Corporate Executive Board (EXBD), where she helped deliver insightful, decision-critical content to Fortune 500 executives.  Ann is joined by Ben Hughes and Andy Kramolisch, who oversee development at NabeWise.

For more information, contact: ann@nabewise.com